The Power of Lionheart
by Tempest
Summary: Due to a serious change in the series, it has changed names. Now, the 'Power of the Lionheart' saga exists under the title 'Power of the Creator.'
1. Default Chapter

"Ugh. Where am I?"  
Squall said. He felt disoriented, but whole. He couldn't understand it or comprehend it. It was dark, empty, and lifeless. There was absolutely nothing. Squall felt paralyzed in his tracks. Afraid to move, lest he fall off into the abyss that he was suspended in. He fingered the ring on his hand, the ring that he had known so well through the years. Suddenly, he saw underneath him a rock in the distance, surrounded by an ocean rising towards him. He braced himself for its impact, but when he finally landed, there was no impact, no pain.   
I must be dreaming.  
He thought. From the forests on the island came out a figure dressed in white robes with white hair. Squall looked at him oddly, because even though he had white hair, he looked like he was only 20, and he seemed to radiate with light.   
"Who are you?"  
Squall asked. If the figure wasn't deaf, he was mute because he said nothing. Instead, he walked up to Squall's hand and reached for the ring. Normally, Squall wouldn't have let anyone get near his ring, but he felt compelled to hold his hand out,. as if he couldn't help himself. The figure in white took the ring off and placed it in Squall's hand.   
"What?"  
The ring suddenly started glowing, and it grew bigger... bigger. It turned face down into his palm and grew until the face was big enough to fit his entire palm. He felt it burn into his pand, etching its mark. He didn't feel any pain, though. It was as if there was no pain. The ring glowed hotter... hotter... hotter... when suddenly, it disappeared. In its place, there was a burn mark on his hand, a white-glowing mark that seemed to radiate with power, melding with his entire body. He could feel the power coursing through his entire body, sending wave of energy echoing throughout the entire dream world, even making the white-robed figure dissappear. He was almost screaming from the pain when, suddenly, he woke up in his bed sitting up, the sweat pouring down the side of his face, staining his collar.   
He stood up instantly and walked to the restroom at the end of the hall. It was before the students were officially allowed to leave their rooms, so no one was awake yet. After making sure he was alone, he washed off his face, getting all the saltiness to wash away. When his hands passed over his eyes, though, it seemed to get brighter. He stopped washing his face and looked at his palms, only to see what he had feared most. Engraved in his palm was the face of the ring, and his ring was gone. His face was blanched as his mind ran through all the possibilities, none of them making sense. One of them stood out above all the rest, though.  
I've gotta hide this... but how?  
Before the bell rang, Squall slid over to the elevator to get up to the headmaster's office, or what was once the headmaster's office. Since the headmaster had chosen to stay with Edea, the office was now his personal office, the commander's office. Technically, no one was allowed to use the elevator, and it disabled itself during curfew, but being the commander of the Garden had its advantages. On a keychain, next to the hanging head of the lion that was dangling on his gunblade, lay the school master key. He yanked it off and pushed it into a slot right below the up/down buttons. The elevator activated promptly, like he knew it would, and he went straight to Cid's old office.  
Since the Garden had set itself down, there was no one up there piloting, and Squall was glad for it. If anyone at all were to spot his hand, who knew what would happen? He reached the intercom command switch, and sent a personal message, something that he rarely ever did. The intercom would only reach Zell's room, so Squall spoke casually, hoping that Zell would at least wake up.  
"Zell. I know it's early, but get up and head over to my office. The elevator has been activated already. Bring one of your metal knuckles."  
Now, all he could do was wait for Zell to arrive, and hope that the kid didn't panic when he saw the Mark of the Lion.  
Zell flopped out of bed, smacking his alarm clock, which was incessantly buzzing. When it didn't stop, though, he realized it was Squall's voice coming over the intercom.  
"Zell... my office... elevator... bring knuckles."  
That was all Zell could really make out through the haze over his brain, but he figured what it was for.  
"Coming!"  
He called out to nowhere. Being as how he slept with his clothes on, it didn't take him long at all to get ready and head over to Cid's office. When he parted through the double doors and went up the mini-vator, as he called it, he saw Squall facing the sky in the commander's chair so that Zell couldn't see him.  
"Did you bring the knuckles?"  
Squall asked from being the chair.  
"Hold up. What's this about, Squall? You don't wake up a kid at 5 o'clock just to ask for my Maverick."  
He heard a sigh from behind the chair. He saw Squall swirl around, his hands clasped together.  
"So, Zell. You want to know what's up?"  
"Hell yeah!"  
Squall slowly untangled his hands, adding to the suspense. He showed his palm to the astonished Zell, not half-surprised at the look on his face.  
"So, will you give me your Maverick?"  
"Su...Su...Sure."  
He handed over the gloves and Squall quickly covered up his hands, smiling for the first time since the strange engravings came on his hands. When he got both hands covered, he seemed to loosen up a little bit.   
"Thanks, Zell. Even if you are annoying as hell, you're a lifesaver."  
"Let me guess, I'm not supposed to tell anyone, right?"  
"Yes."  
"OK. Your secret's safe with me."  
As he turned away to go down the lesser elevator, Zell turned around.  
"You know, if you're going to wear a Maverick everywhere you go, it would make more sense if you enrolled in a combat class."  
Squall's face darkened some. To be under Zell's command...   
"All right."  
He didn't really have a choice. Zell was right. You didn't arm yourself with a somewhat powerful fist to fist combat weapon without having some need for it, and everyone else would notice it, too. After Zell left, Squall decided he'd stay in his office for the hour, until it came time for him to let everyone out. It wasn't like he had anything to do, anyway.  
The next morning, all the doors unlocked at the said time and almost everbody came moping tiredly out of their classes like they always did. Everyone but Squall. When the buzzer rang, he oddly found himself asleep. He almost never slept when he didn't want to, so this seemed odd. He opened his eyes slowly, carefully, feeling the breeze of the Garden on the back of his head. Ragnarok was safe in Esthar, and it didn't have the homey feeling of the Garden. He slowly came awake and looked at his watch. It read 7:12.  
"In the name of Hyne! I'm late for combat training!"  
He was about to run to the minivator when suddenly, the air around him shifted and he found himself standing in front of the Quad Entrance. Luckily, everyone who would have seen him was too asleep to care.  
What the hell...?  
He walked in quickly, looking at the ornate flowers and tiles that decorated the place. Selphie had even spruced it up, since it was now a party location, meeting place, combat training center, and sometimes docking bay. Because of this, everything had some kind of sign of their adventures, the sign of Esthar ascribed on one wall, a rack of duplicates of their weapons, a hologram of Squall, Zell, and Rinoa fighting Ultimecia, and a number of small momentos on the pedestals that were placed there. The entrance hall looked more like a museum, now, than a party area.   
He walked quietly into the class, two minutes late. He expected that everyone would have stopped, but the class hadn't started yet. People were in their assigned lines, but they weren't started. Zell had his hands on a communicator, one that was used for in-Garden calls. Because of Zell, the dress code was lax, so he didn't need to change into the traditional garb. However, there was something he found intriguing on the wall as possible clothes for practice. He didn't need to change, and almost no one ever did, so all of the garments were there. Zell had stopped trying to sell them and was giving them away. Luckily for Squall, no one had seen him but Zell. Quickly, he grabbed what he saw off and the wall and walked towards the changing wall. Behind it, he looked at it. Black, elastic trousers, a ninja-style shirt that was meant for it, two armbands, and a headband.   
"Hm..."  
Discarding the shirt, he changed into the rest, leaving his chest visible. He smiled as he looked at the fabric on his wrists. He made several practice swings and admired the look of it. It was something new, but new wasn't bad. He stored his jacket and normal pants, as well as his gunblade, into the 'Guest' storage space. Hopefully, it would be renamed after he'd been there a while. He straightened his maverick on his fist, making sure it covered the mark on his hand, that strange glowing Lionheart symbol. As a last thing, he closed his eyes and sent a message to Ifrit and Diablo through the Guardian Voice, a skill he'd learned when he'd first learned to summon GF's, the ability to talk to them through the dimensions.  
Go idle, please. Unjunction all abilities. Stay for summoning, though.   
Through the dimensions, he felt an acknowledgement, and a slight sense of dissapointment. His bond with his GF's was second to none, and they didn't like to leave him. He walked out when he heard Zell whistle. He assumed his place in the order quickly. Smiling as Zell raised an eyebrow at him, he noticed that no one looked in his direction. Certainly, he was in the back of the rows, but still, most of the people in training were kids, only 12 or 13. As immature as they should have been, Squall was surprised that they hadn't been distracted and looked around. Apparently, a lax dress code didn't change Zell's attitude towards military precision and training.   
"Class. As you know, we've been learning how to counter magic with physical strength."  
Zell said, now off of the communicator.   
"As you know, there is a common belief that only a person's own magic field, called vitality by some, can block magic attacks. However, I beg to differ. I've called in an expert on the subject to provide some much needed training to you kids."  
From the back of the room, Squall heard a shoe hitting the tile, probably the specialist. Yet... that sound... Rinoa.  
"Everyone, before you turn around to see the specialist, I would like you to meet our new student. Student, step to the front of the room."  
No one even looked at him until he got to the front of the room. Squall would probably have a talk with Xu. Being the quartermaster, she would be the person who would acquire the funds to get him a raise. He got up to the front, and it was only then when a couple of whispered voices started to come to the forefront.   
"Now Squall. I don't normally do this, but you will be today's demonstration. I believe you have unjunctioned yourself?"  
"Yes... sir."  
Calling him 'sir' was going to take some getting used to.   
"All right. Rinoa, begin the test."  
A couple of gasps came from the children when Rinoa floated over their heads to the platform. Rinoa smiled when she saw Squall, and he gave a half-smile back... for a split second. When Rinoa reached the platform, she deactivated her float and touched down. Squall almost smiled when she mouthed, 'you look good.' Squall remembered that he wasn't wearing a shirt or jacket, and he felt almost embarrassed. Almost. Rinoa walked backwards another 2 meters, so that she was about 12 feet away.  
"This, class, is where most magic attacks and defense will occur."  
Zell said, sounding more like a commander than Squall normally saw him.  
"Therefore, this is where we'll make our tests. First, we try the ice attacks, since our wonderful commander is without any form of protection. Then it's up to the sorceress what will be next."  
Squall's eyes got a little wide at that. He hadn't suspected any of this, and this idea was a little more than he could take. However, Zell had given him some pointers back during their days against Ultimecia, and he put his hands out to intercept the attack. Now Rinoa spoke.  
"Some magical attacks, like 'ice', are physical, but that's not what we're looking for, so I'm going to use a series of energy beams that are the equivalent power, effect, temperature, etc. as their physical counterparts."  
Squall raised his hands as Rinoa raised a hand. From the corner of his eye, Squall could watch an eye close, and he could feel a student scanning him. It didn't take long for Squall to realize that this student was analyzing his own natural vitality, strength, etc. and looking for some kind of trick, some kind of vitality focus, a quick reflect magic, or something that would be otherwise... cheating. Suddenly, from in front of Rinoa, a sphere appeared. Out of it came a beam that lanced out towards his head. Quickly, he blocked it before him, and was almost stunned at its power. Rinoa wasn't holding back, and his hand felt like it was just drenched in liquid nitro. However, he was able to resist it for as long as she kept it up, and it ended quickly.   
"Now, we increase it to blizzara power."  
"Wha..."  
He didn't get to finish before a much deeper sphere opened up, and Squall was hard pressed to guard his thigh in time, the target she was striving for. The pain was searing, and through the white that came in front of his eyes, he saw the child who was scanning him raise an eyebrow. He didn't know why, but he couldn't concentrate enough to think. The pain reached his brain and he almost swam before the beam stopped. He hit the floor in almost agony, and he could almost sense the pity that Zell and the others had for him. The last time Rinoa 'maxed out' her blizzara magic's power, with an Estharian reconnaisance agent, one of the most reputable scanners in the world, she had been rated at only 27 colions below the power of Hyne, higher than even Ultimecia. A colion was a rating of magic that the mind, when scanning, mysteriously used. Rinoa frowned and walked over to Squall.  
"Squall. Do you want me to do this? I could destroy you on accident."  
"No... problem. Just stop using the ice attacks. Without a jacket, they hurt like hell."  
"Right."  
She moved back to her previous position as Squall slowly got back up.   
"Class. My last attack will not be an ice attack. I will use a thunder attack. Thundaga."  
Squall barely raised his hand when the last sphere appeared, lancing out a painful blast of thunder through his body. He started jerkily vibrantly, trying to think about what he was going to do. His vision started to black out, and his hand started to feel weakened. Suddenly, he felt his hand heat up. It wasn't the blazing heat of thunder, but a sort of pulsing energy. His vision cleared and he saw the lightning twist around him, hitting the wall behind him, blowing a gaping hole straight through it into the cafeteria. Several people in the room gasped, and the military precision evaporated under the awe. Suddenly, the thundaga didn't go around him. It went into him. The one who was scanning him was the only child to not look at him awestruck, and his eyes were closed. Squall relished in the power of the thundaga, feeling it absorb into him. Rinoa's eyes got wide as Squall yelled out,  
"Rinoa! Ultima!"  
Rinoa was slow to respond, but she produced an ultima beam, and it seemed to hit him at the same time, fusing with the lightning already in his body. His voice was almost vibrating through the halls as he felt his own powers rise.   
"Flare! Blizzaga! Holy! Death! Bio! Tornado! Full life!"  
Rinoa was almost paralyzed with fear of what he was asking. If his mysterious power ran out, he'd be dead. However, she still raised her hand and created the other powers, which themselves shot into him, fusing with everything that was in him already. The power of the beams seemed to become one with him as his pupils seemed to dissapear and his eyes became white. His open chest started gleaming with sweat, but at the same time, it seemed to pulse with energy. It's physical appearance didn't change at all, but it was... different. Together, they became one with him and when all the spheres stopped hitting him, he kneeled down in something that felt like exhaustion. People watching from the cafeteria just stared and the different kids watching him all backed off in fear. All except the one.   
Indigo read his scans as the thundaga hit Squall. It read everything as normal. No force fluctuations. Then, suddenly, he saw a reading. On his hands, a foreign power expanded around him, a field of energy which, in his mind, read as some kind of distortion field. The lightning's power reading was nothing compared to this new source. Suddenly, it phased into another form, some kind of power absorption field. Was this what he had been looking for all his lives? He waited until the beams all shut off so that he could get a straight reading of Squall without their interference. The power fields, the fusion of the powers into the physical body, it all made sense. All his studies were true, his suspicions. Finally, his destiny was almost complete. All he had to do was complete his mission.   



	2. The Power of Lionheart 2

On the ramp, the child walked up slowly to the exhausted Squall.   
Finally. My destiny.  
Squall was unable to do anything as the child came, since he strangely felt unable to move. The child came up the stairs slowly, walking very carefully, as though he was walking over a pit.  
"Are you... the Chosen?"  
"What are you talking about, child?"  
"You'll see, Squall. You'll see."  
"What's your name?"  
"You will know."  
Suddenly, Squall started to float in midair, and his vision started to change. The entire world seemed to twist out of shape, and in its place, he found himself in a void, an empty blackness. Strangely, however, he didn't feel tired at all.  
"So, child. Where am I."  
"Squall Leonheart."  
"That is my name."  
"Squall Leonheart."  
"Yes?"  
"Do you not know my name?"  
Strangely, Squall had never thought about the fact that he had never learned the name of the child. Rather than ask him who he was, he straightened up.  
"Why did you bring me here?"  
"Do you not know my name?"  
Apparently, this person would not continue unless he was asked what he wanted to be asked.  
"What is your name?"  
"Hyne."  
Squall was half confused and half cautious. Hyne. The original sorceress. It was impossible! Somehow, though, he knew it was true. Whether it was his new power or his own sense of right, he knew that he was telling the truth.  
"How are you alive?"  
Raising his hand, the young child formed an image, a picture of a woman in her prime, her face still unlined from any form of anger.  
"That's... you?"  
"Yes. Or at least, that was me."  
"What?"  
The image seemed to change from that one picture to showing different parts of her/his life, which flickered on and off rather irregularly. Then, it came to the end of her life and slowed down to be more easily visible. Hyne, now about 90, but still looking young, standing over the dead body of a child, a girl. Her child. Through the image, he saw Hyne desperately try life and full life, but every time she tried it, something stopped it, an invisible force. In desperation, she raised her hands and summoned her essence, flowing it into an energy ball which suddenly started to flow into the girl. This time, she was not stopped. After about a half a minute, life seemed to come to the girl, and Hyne's body fell. The girl was Hyne, or at least, the dead girl's body was Hyne.  
"You... transported into other's bodies?  
"Yes, Squall. It's kept me alive."  
"Why?"  
Then, the image cut off. The boy looked up at him, an icy glare in his eyes.  
"I've been waiting for you, Squall."  
"Me?"  
"Yes you, Squall. That power you acquired, it wasn't given to you at random. You were chosen."  
"By who?"  
"By the only power that is more powerful than you."  
"Who?"  
"The Creator. I have not seen him myself, but evolution does not explain your power or mine. When I sacrificed a portion of my power, I didn't choose who it went to. That was chosen for me."  
Squall stood aghast. The Creator. No one had ever seen him, and Squall didn't think he had even seen him. It must have been one of the messengers that so many people talk about. But the implications...  
"But that means that... Ultimecia. The Creator gave your power to Ultimecia."  
Hyne nodded her head solemnly.  
"I can only guess. I see only one of two possibilities. Either Ultimecia was a test of your determination, or..."  
"Or what?"  
"My enemy may have been granted the abikity to assign my power."  
"The Creator let someone else do it? Your enemy?"  
Hyne could only bow his head even more if that was possible.  
"A being, extremely powerful, far more powerful than me, realms the worlds. He controls the Guardian Force. He IS the Guardian Force. The Creator could destroy him easily, but he chooses not to. Luckily, my enemy does not even have full control over the essence of the dimension that GF's exist. The fact that you got uncontaminated Guardian Forces is prove of that."  
Squall's head was swimming. He was having a hard time accepting any of this. Supernatural forces? The Guardian Force? Hyne? And what did...  
"What does this have to do with me?"  
For a moment, Hyne was silent.  
"You are more powerful than even me, Squall. I believe... I believe you have been given your power to stop my enemy."  
Squall instantly went back to his skeptical attitude, and focused his Lionheart on Hyne.  
"You were considered evil, Hyne. I can't trust you."  
The boy laughed, and then kneeled down.  
"I was not evil by nature. I was contaminated. I have paid my pennance. Have you paid yours?"  
"Pennance? Pennance for what?!"  
His words were lost in the void as Hyne started to disappear.  
"Get back here, Hyne!"  
Nothing happened. He knelt down and started screaming, unleashing a primal roar towards everything and nothing. His hand glowed a vibrant green, and suddenly, the place where he was kneeling, the voidspace, became the familiar tile, and everyone was around him as he kneeled on the ground. He grabbed for the nearest person, who was almost startled.   
"Rinoa..."  
Squall looked at Rinoa's face and her smile before he blinked, his eyes feeling heavy.  
"My... room. Need sle..."  
He passed out, still in his battle suit. With his headband and armbands waving, Rinoa activated her float and hovered over everyone, almost flying to the dormitories.   
When Squall woke up, he found Rinoa sitting in a chair over his bed. The doctors, there were two now to deal with the bigger Garden, hovered over him. He waved him hand to shoo them away.  
"You did all your tests while I was asleep. There are others that need treatment more."  
Rather than argue, which is what Squall was half-expecting, they walked out of the room, leaving Rinoa there. As he watced, he noticed that Rinoa was moving at an absurdly slow pace. It didn't take him long to understand. She had cast a slowing magic on herself so that she would conserve energy to stay up with him. Now that he was awake, she waved her hand and a sort of comet-trail circled her, clearing the slow from her body. She got up from her chair and walked up to him. He sat up on the edge of the bed and almost smiled.  
"You watched over me."  
"All forty hours."  
He was surprised that he had been asleep that long, but he didn't argue. Rather, he just put his hand to her cheek, now really smiling. Going to the void world made him remember that he was alive, and he remembered who he really cared for.  
"Thank you."  
Rinoa put her hands to his, seeming to savor the moment, neither of them wanting to let go for fear of breaking the curse. However, it had to end sooner or later. Rinoa smirked and let go, slowly.  
"It was nothing. I... I had to make sure you were okay."  
Slowly, she walked out of the room, leaving one last glance over her shoulder before she left for good. When he fell back down onto the bed, he noticed with feint surprise that he was still wearing those simple trousers with bands, and that was it. He wasn't even wearing shoes. Then, he remembered that he had forgot his gunblade back at the training room. Feeling confident, he raised his hands and imagined it in his hands. For a moment, nothing happened, but after a moment, the gunblade materialized in his hands. He smiled as the rest of his ninja garb also appeared on the dresser next to him. He put on the shoes, simple cloth pads, and he was about to put on the shirt before he thought of something. He wasn't the same old person as he was, and covering up his power wasn't what he needed. He kept the Mavericks on, but he started to bring up the power in his fist, now learning how to control it on command, and it started to burn a line through the glove just enough that his Lionheart sign was clearly visible. Rather than put on the whole garb, he simply split the shirt from the silk-mail vest that was underneath it, putting it on.   
He admired its durability before he walked out of the dorm, swinging the unlit handle of his Lionheart Sword in circles. Vaguely, he noticed the Lionheart engraved into the handle, and thought,  
I guess... the Lionheart has always been my destiny, hasn't it.   
When he got to the cafeteria and walked over to where everyone but Rinoa was sitting, he vaguely noticed that several people took stray glances at him. With the power of the Lionheart, he enhanced his hearing enough to hear some of them.  
"That's... Squall?"  
"Yes."  
"Geez... it doesn't look like him, you know?"  
"Silence."  
"No, seriously, are you sure that that's really Squall?"  
"Raijin. Pipe down. That's Squall, all right. Scan him. He's the old wimp, except with a new look and a fancy upgrade."  
"Correct."  
Focusing on that group, Squall turned and gave a half smile. Walking up to the three, he recognized Fujin, Raijin, and Seifer. When Raijin made another peek at him, he closed h is eyes and teleported himself behind him.  
"Is there something you wanted to ask me, Raijin?"  
Raijin jumped several feet into the air, hitting his knee on the table where he was sitting.  
"What the..."  
"Commander."  
"What are you doing here, Squall?"  
Squall simply shrugged.  
"I just heard that Raijin was asking a question. I wanted to answer. Raijin, I am Squall. Are you satisfied."  
Before Raijin could respond, Squall teleported to the table where his companions were, coming in between Zell and Quistis. None of them were startled, but Squall expected that. They knew his habits.  
"What was it like, Squall?"  
Zell asked after a couple more seconds of idle chitchat.  
"It... was... It was like I was fueled by power. Like having pure energy pumped into every cell of my body. The power I got was... beyond anything I've energy felt.  
"What happened when you were collapsed? You would constantly be walking and gesturing until you kneeled down and woke up."  
This time it was Quistis, ever careful not to ask anything too deep.  
"I met Hyne."  
Apparently, the answer was deeper than they were expecting. Selphie had apparently gasped with food in her mind, because she suddenly started gagging. Rinoa walked into the door at the other end, walking towards the group.  
"What did you say?"  
Zell asked, now listening far more carefully. Rinoa arrived then, sitting down next to Squall.   
"It was odd. I was transported to a mystical place, a kind of outspace. There was no floor, but I could move just fine. I could see entire galaxies, and the boy that followed me up the ramp... he was Hyne."  
"How?"  
Rinoa was the one who asked, this time. She was always asking questions about her sorceress heritage.  
"Hyne... she has switched through over 100 bodies, well over 100 bodies. She/he said that she has been waiting for something, something that she was always waiting for. She said it was me."  
"Why was she waiting for you?"  
"She said... she said the Creator gave me this power... this strength. She guessed that I was granted the power to fight off some mystical power. Some being that has control over the Guardian..."  
Suddenly, he was cut off as the entire room got freezing cold. Whoever had magic skills made a fire quickly, raising their hand to warm themselves. Mystically unaffected, Squall got up quickly and felt his power flair up. Suddenly, the boy, Hyne, appeared, his hand glowing, one of the telltale signs of using Holy or Forbidden magic. Suddenly, he saw a being clothed in a white robe walk in. At least, that's what he saw at first. Everyone looked at the two beings, and two people ran from a table when a flare cast by Hyne hit the being, sending tens of tables flying. Strangely, though, the strange robed figure showed no sign of weakness. As Squall watched, though, his senses shifted. Instead of seeing color, he started seeing intent, motive... and the being in white had a sense of evil that was far beyond even Ultimecia's. Also, he saw that Hyne was not evil, but was almost blazingly good. Suddenly, the being reached out a hand and fired a magic Squall had never seen, and a piercing shriek of evil energy reached towards Hyne, striking her to the ground. Quickly, Squall turned to Rinoa.  
"Sorceress! Curaga! Now!"  
Rinoa knew what he meant and she conjured up the power to raise Hyne while Squall ran between Hyne and the other being. As the curaga seeped into her body, Hyne got up and frowned.  
"Who is he?"  
Squall asked, his Lionheart sword in his hands.  
"He is not my enemy, but he is one of his allies. One of the Outcasts."  
Squall didn't bother to ask who the Outcasts were, but he called out instead.  
"Whoever you are, I suggest you move away now!"  
The being laughed so hard that the room seemed to vibrate.  
"You? Squall Leonheart? I saw your battle with Ultimecia. You are pitiful!"  
Reaching out with his hands, the being created a hurricane of dark energy which spiraled above Squall, lancing out with powerful blows that tried to strike him. However, when the blasts came, he seemed to always deflect them or dodge them, knowing exactly where they would come. In a blazing rush, he ran to his opponent, Lionheart in hand. Realizing he had underestimated his opponent, the being leaped up into the air and through the ceiling.  
"No you're not!"  
Squall yelled and he leaped up and followed, his power driving him afloat. His being past through the wall as he crossed the material barrier, and he saw his opponent.  
"Whoever you are, you die now!"  
Squall yelled. Bringing up one hand, he summoned a Holy magic and conjured it up within his enemy. He watched as the being writhed in pain while the power coursed through him, and when it stopped, he was left heaving, like one without any energy left in him.  
"Either you give up now, creature of darkness, or you die."  
"You'll have... to kill... me, then. I have... nothing."   
Squall grabbed his Lionheart sword and flew up at the being, who was now unable to fight. Weak. Defenseless. Before he could bring down the sword, he sighed and stopped himself.  
"I... can't kill a defenseless opponent."  
The being smiled and raised an eyebrow.  
"That is your foolishness."  
Suddenly, he dissapeared, and Squall didn't know where he had gone.   



	3. The Power of Lionheart 3

Zell walked into the Garden Training Academy with his top knuckles on, a new design called the Tintor Fin created at Fisherman's Horizon. It was a deep yellow with black slashes, and the knuckles themselves were more like curved, ridged claws. That was enough to let even a beginner take down a Buel or a Bite Bug in one hit. Reaching the actual forested area, he immediately looked for Squall. After all, Squall was the one who'd called this meeting, and there had to be some reason for it...  
Squall could have heard his voice from a mile away in the middle of the Esthar Mall. Only Zell's querying voice could sound so hyper, subdued, and loud at the same time. Rather than individually, he decided that he would tell them as a group. After all, he had summoned them, and since Zell was the last one to arrive, it was time for him to address the reason for the summons. Getting them all to quiet down, he started to start his statement when Hyne walked in. He smiled. Thinking to him through his newly acquired powers, he said,  
Glad you could make it.  
He thought back a response, although she had a far harder time with it than he did.  
Wouldn't miss it.  
He quieted down the groups that had started talking after he had gotten distracted and started talking to Hyne, and he calmed them down again. Sometimes, he wish he could have cast a silence on all of them to get them to stop talking, but that probably would have been brushing on immoral, forcing someone to do something against their will. That would be like forcing Rinoa to kiss Zell. That thought disqusted him.   
"I called an assembly of the training group because, as you have probably guessed, of my new powers."  
He raised his gloves, Mavericks that Zell had given him, up in the air to show them the Lionheart symbol on his palm that was glowing through the Maverick.   
"Here in the training center?"  
Quistis asked, stepping forward.  
"Yeah, Squall. I mean, I've seen your power and you'd tear the place down, you know?"  
"Affirmative."  
"I don't want you tearing down the Garden now that I just became a SeeD a month ago."  
Squall smiled. He hadn't thought of that, but the solution wasn't difficult to come up with. He raised his hand over his head and imagined the ground, the foggy mists that had formed. The plants and Bite Bugs... he was straining to form the psychic picture in his mind. He encompassed his sudden psychic energy field to encompass everyone around him, and he found himself and all the others in the middle of a field right out of Balamb Garden's repulsor field.  
"Does that answer your question?"  
Raijin wasn't convinced yet.  
"I've got a question, you know. What do you want us to, you know, do?"  
"Fight me. Try to kill me. Summon your GF's. Use your Ultimas, your Meteors, your Blinds. Don't skimp out on your attacks. From what Hyne has told me, I can create draw points for you to recover. One thing, though. Don't use elementals. I absorb all elemental attacks. Even Holy."  
Zell's jaw dropped open.  
"You must be joking. Look... you're powerful and all, but having all of us here to fight? I mean, you have the man who killed Odin in one strike, a sorceress, the ORIGINAL sorceress, a crackshot with an advanced gun, a hand to hand combat expert, a whipmaster, and Selphie, the self proclaimed nunchaka expert. Combined with our GFs, I'm not sure..."  
Squall laughed and raised up his hands. Suddenly, a mass of thunder and lightning, far more powerful than even Quetzacoatal's blast when he first came into their group, blasted straight at Squall, slamming directly into his hand. When everyone else was able to look again, they saw all this energy focused into a single pinprick of energy that Squall thrust into his body as it seemed to flood his system, powering him.   
"Any questions?"  
All of them now had their jaws open, along with Zell. All, of course, except for Hyne. He simply laughed and agreed with him, though she had a lingering question.   
"You do know that you won't really gain ALL that much training from fighting us with the power that you have."  
"I know. The training is mostly for you guys."  
Everyone was quiet at first. Then, all of a sudden, Seifer shot forward, his gunblade that he had now named Holy cross lifted over his head to strike Squall. Squall made a leap into the air and hung there, summoning energy in his hand. Suddenly, a wave of magic attacks came at him. An Ultima hit him head on, several meteors struck out of nowhere and slammed into him. Through the dust kicked up from the Ultima, he could see Rinoa and Selphie closing their eyes, putting their hands to their forehead. However, he could sense the Guardian Voice that echoed out from them. When the dust settled, several of them gasped as he came out uninjured, his bare chest still dry. He hadn't even broken a sweat. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Siren came from her dimension, carrying her harp over her form, playing smoothly. Then, the smooth playing seemed to change shape, and even though the sound was the same, it lashed out in waves at Squall and the others, as though it was a monster, trying desperately to kill its victim. Several of the wave reached his outstretched palm and stopped there, evaporating. Seifer came in from behind him, slashing his sword down towards his skin. He was barely able to phase out of his matter before the sword slashed through his ghosted self.   
Squall sensed a surge of power nearby and threw Seifer down to the ground, knocking the wind out of him. Suddenly, in the space above him, he saw the dark sphere. The air seemed to cackle with powerful time-space energy and Diablos, the Lord of Space and Master of Time, came down. Reaching up into his dark sphere, Diablos pumped it full of energy, and then, before Squall could even know what was coming, brought it down on him. He had never felt the sudden twist of mind and soul that came with that attack. He felt as though his body was being twisted into hundreds of different shapes. Through the agony, he summoned a flare and blasted it out towards his dark opponent. At first, the magic seemed to struggled against the dome that encircled him, but when it cleared free, Diablos had no time before he was hit square on with the blast. From his feet to his head, he started to tremble as a tremor in space time was created and Diablos was sent back to the other dimension. He should have been happy that Squall didn't kill him. He didn't have too much time to think about it, though, because Rinoa's boomerang weapon suddenly came in, arcing at him. He grabbed it quickly. About to destroy it, Squall remembered how expensive it was, so rather than break it, he teleported it into the Garden. Raising a hand, Rinoa launched an Ultima at him at her most powerful magic, her eyes closed, eyebrow furrowed. As she summoned her power, Squall felt something give.   
His entire world seemed to fall out from under him, and he was suddenly teleported, but this world was not real. It was not the realm that Hyne had brought him to, either. It was different. The sounds of screams and agony reached him, but he could not see anything. It was as though a blind was put over his eyes. He summoned as much power as he could, and he watched in satisfaction as the air lit around him, but the satisfaction didn't last long. All he could see were several gnarled, rotting trees, and a gate. Suddenly, from the gate, he saw six red eyes peering at him.  
"Cerberus?"  
Suddenly, the creature exploded out of the gate with its teeth bared. Squall raised his arms in a defensive posture.  
"Cerberus, are you nuts?!"  
The three headed beast attacked him, bringing his three jaws to bear on him. He created a field around him that threw all three back. Then, he remembered something Hyne had said.  
My enemy...He controls the Guardian Force. He IS the Guardian Force.  
Squall finally realized what that meant. His words meant that Cerberus was now under the enemy's control. He raised his hands, forming a magic shield in his arm that would repel the attack while he conjured up a plan. Cerberus was a fast creature, because it had three heads. He wouldn't dare kill it, either. Irvinne would be crushed if that happened. Cerberus was his pet, and not just his Guardian. With his other hand, he formed a rift, hoping that his sudden plan would work. Rather than wait for Cerberus to attack him, he had come up with a new plan. When Cerberus struck again, he brought the rift between the two of them, and while Cerberus had his head trapped in it, Squall transported to the back of him and kicked him.  
"Get in there, you mutt!"  
There was only a single yelp/roar as the huge beast descended into the rift. Using up only a little of his power, Squall moved the rift to the inside of the gates, closed the gates, and sealed Cerberus there by casting a stop. However, it wasn't a stop beam, but a field. If Cerberus tried to escape, he would be stopped in his tracks. Allowing Cerberus to escape, he suddenly felt his world twisting again.   
This time, he found himself in a deep cave, but there were no Guardian forces here. There were only a group of white-clad figures perched on the cave walls. Somehow, though, Squall could see through the disquise of white. These beings weren't pure, and their essence sure wasn't pretty. The closest feeling he could remember to that was facing Sorceress Adel in the eye and seeing the madness there. Except this time, there were over 100 of these Adels, and Adel would probably have cowered in fear at the power of just one of them. At his calm, several of them sneered through their white hoods. One of the jumped right behind him, landing almost an inch from the right of his face. This being had a queer, devious smile on his face at first, but when he noticed that Squall hadn't even sneered, he reached up his claws to strike him. Rather than take the hit, Squall expanded his vitality and spirit fields outside of his body, blocking the strike. Several of the others suddenly hissed.  
"Who are you, Heart of Lionssss, that you do not fear usssss."  
The sound of snakes that came with their voice reminded him of some of the more disqusting creatures he'd met in his journeys. In fact, it was something between Gerogero, an Abyss Worm, Elvoret, a Forbidden and... and a little bit of Abaddon.   
"I am Squall Leonheart..."  
On a hunch, he finished it up with a,  
"I was chosen to be your destroyer."  
The entire assembly exploded in hissing and anger. Suddenly, a single figure walked from the other side of the room.  
"Calm down, my servants."  
He looked at Squall, and said with a coy smile,  
"You are not our destroyer. Another has been chosen for that. You, my friend, are simply an overblown messenger of the Creator."  
Squall's anger started to rise as he stepped forward.  
"I wouldn't say that..."  
"Call me Darkness."  
"All right, Darkness. I wouldn't say that, Darkness. You will find yourself destroyed by the very one you are claiming is nothing."  
The chuckle that came from Darkness started to ease the tension of the other beings.   
"No. You will not destroy me. There is a time for that, but it is not now, and it will not be you will be my destruction."  
One of the other figures came up, this one with wings.  
"Sir. This Leonheart nearly sent Anikion to the other plane without sustaining any damage..."  
Darkness raised a hand, which Squall suddenly noticed was clawed, towards the one who now spoke, and a wave of energy so powerful that Squall could barely look at it struck the being, dissipating him. The entire room became deathly quiet.  
"Do you think I couldn't do that and more, Lionio?"  
He said to his once servant.  
If he's that easily angerable, than that means... that means that he may kill all of his servants before I can touch them.  
"I won't justify that with an answer, Speaker from the Creator."  
Apparently, Darkness could read his thoughts.  
"I will allow you to leave this place in your blissful ignorance now, Heart of Lions. Do not intefere again, or you will find yourself fighting Darkness myself."  
Suddenly, the world shifted again and he found himself back in the field with everyone else. It took him a moment to regain his balance, even while several of his friends came to assist him.   
"What...Whe... Where'd you go?"  
Zell asked. Before he could respond, Hyne walked up, his small hand steadied on Squall's shoulder.  
"It's very simple, Zell. Squall has met my enemy."  
  



End file.
